Minn. truck driver killed in I-55 accident

A truck driver hauling 700 beehives was killed on Interstate 55 Thursday when his tractor trailer overturned.

The driver's identity is being withheld pending notification of his family. He resides in Richville, Minn.

The accident occurred around 4:15 p.m. on northbound I-55, two miles south of Scott City. Police say the semi sideswiped the guardrail of a bridge and went off the road several hundred feet before overturning in a soybean field. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

"We think he just fell asleep," said Cpl. Mark Winder of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The bees swarmed to the front of the tractor trailer upon impact, said Billy Crump, deputy chief of the Scott City Fire Department. Scott City firefighters were the first to arrive at the accident at 4:24 p.m. They put on full gear, taping their sleeves at the wrists to protect themselves from the bees.

The firefighters sprayed the bees with foam to control their activity. "It helped considerably," Crump said.

Firefighters still had to call in three beekeepers to manage the bees that escaped. The swarms of bees could be seen for quite a distance down the interstate.

Each of the beehives contained about 25,000 bees.

Besides the Scott City Fire Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol, also responding were the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, Oran Fire Department, North Scott County Ambulance, South Scott County Ambulance, Scott County Sheriff's deputies, Missouri Local Emergency Planning Committee and New Hamburg-Benton-Commerce Rural Fire Protection District.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137